Tim Payne is the Republican candidate for the District 1 County Commissioner seat.

Payne, who announced his candidacy in December, is a member of Cañon City Recreation District Board of Directors and the Cañon City Fire Protection District Board of Directors. He is married to Julie and has two grown sons and a granddaughter.

Daily Record: What issue, or issues, would you want to address first if elected?

Tim Payne: The regional dispatch center that we're working together on with Fremont County, City of Cañon City and City of Florence and the sheriff's department. I'm on that committee because I represent the Cañon City Fire District board. That would be one thing I'd like to see accomplished. The expanding of the airport industrial park. We all know about the Green Diamond Tire would be the anchor of that. That'd be quite a thing for Fremont County and the trickle-down effect on that would be fantastic. Probably, the Regional Building Authority would be another thing if that could come together. I think that would make things all little smoother as far as building codes, and I think that would be a good thing.

DR: The Master Plan is being revised by the Planning Commission. What are you views on that process and what issues do you want them to address?

TP: It seems like that document is a fluid document, and there are people who don't think it's a fluid document.

Advertisement

And we get kind of hung up on the times it seems like. So that has to be ever-changing with the climate of Fremont County. I think that would be one of the biggest things that gets hung up with the Master Plan.

DR: How do you feel about the four-day week and would you change that?

TP: I believe that government offices should be open five days a week. However, that being said, I understand the reasoning why they went to four days to save money on energy costs and as long as we can show significant energy savings with that, I have no problem staying with the four-day work week, as long as we do save money with the county budget.

DR: Talk about your experience working with budgets.

TP: The past eight years I've been on different government boards with the recreation district and also the fire district and worked on budgets. Obviously, they're a little smaller budgets than the county. However, that being said, there's still issues with the county budget as far as state and federal mandates. Everything is so mandated by the state and feds that it really puts a hamper on the wiggle room you have with the budget. The one that seems to take the brunt of it is the sheriff's department. A few years ago, the voters voted down an increase just for the sheriff's department, and, eventually, that's going to have to come to bear because Sheriff Beicker sure has a hard time with the budget that he has.

DR: Mike Stiehl, who is not seeking re-election in District 1, participates in many exterior boards. Would you be interested in continuing that?

TP: I'm already looking at stepping into some of those boards that Mike would leave because he's no longer an elected official. And I've already talked to a few individuals on that. So, yeah, that's something I would definitely look at.

DR: Now that 'Over The River' has been approved, what is your view of the commissioners' role in moving that project forward?

TP: That would be looking after what was signed in our resolution. I have a copy of the resolution and what falls under our jurisdiction is what we need to keep looking at. Because we have no jurisdiction over the wildlife or U.S. 50 or even the river corridor. So you have to look at what's in our resolution and follow up on what was signed for that, which is county roads, some noise ordinances, that type of thing. That's what I would be doing as county commissioner is following up on what was signed in the resolution.

DR: How active of a role should commissioners take in bring industries into Fremont County?

TP: I think they should take a very active role. I've said that before of working with private industry to promote economic development in the county. That was a real good thing with Mike working with Green Diamond Tire. I believe we should take a very active role in trying to get economic development going in the county, particularly out at that airport industrial park. And like I said before, the trickle down effect will benefit the whole county.

DR: How do you feel about implementing tax incentive program?

TP: That's a very touchy subject. We have a tax break for Holcim right now that's not going to be coming due for a couple three years, don't know the exact date, but we still have that hanging out there. And to offer more with the tight budget that we have, that's very difficult to do. Now there is other tax breaks that you can get, whether it's property taxes, this type of thing. You know you'd love to give tax breaks if you can, but it's not always a viable option.